Gerry Frank's Konditorei — Restaurant in Salem

If you were rating Gerry Frank's on the food alone, they would be awarded four stars, as in: quite good, not amazing. But the cake. THE CAKE! Just gazing at those towers of butter and sugar makes my heart so happy! Cake by the slice is the best, and the cupcake craze past years seems to have changed bakeries so it is difficult to find cake by the slice, but not so here! They also have cheesecake, tortes, and a variety of cookies, bars, brownies, etc. They offer day (or two) old slices at a discounted price of $3.95, and on our first visit they were so inundated with goodies that they had a BOGO offer, meaning we got four slices for (technically under) $2 piece. And they were fantastic! The only one that was a smidge dry was the After School, but I still munched it right up. Surprisingly, Champagne might have been my favorite. The white cake was so, so fine and light and just exactly what you want cake to be, and the frosting had such a lovely champagne flavor that really elevated it from a basic white cake. Gerry's chocolate was pretty darn great, though, while my husband favored the Snicker's Cheesecake. I enjoyed them so much I returned twice over the next few weeks and have since tried coconut, blackout, birthday, and the chocolate mousse cake. As a dedicated chocoholic I can’t believe I’m saying this, but their white cakes with any kind of buttercream frosting are my favorite.

If you are not nearly so inclined to gorge on sweets as I, the food really was quite good. For lunch, I had the curry chicken salad. It was yummy and large enough that I took some home. The hot chocolate was yummy too, with loads of whipped cream (and they make all sorts of coffee and related drinks, too!)

Prices are reasonable with plenty of options around $10, and none over $14. It’s mostly sandwiches and salads, with a daily soup and quiche, as well as a lasagna option. Overall, I’d happily share a meal here again, but mostly, I’ll be stopping by for a grab and go slice of...

I rediscovered this shop recently since I moved a little closer and it's more convenient. I purchased a lemon cheesecake for my brother's birthday. Spendy but made to order. It was delicious. I wish they offered a smaller size though. I only had 6 people to feed and this cheesecake was for 12 or more. They were kind enough to give me leftovers boxes with my order to help with that. Another day last spring I popped in on a whim for a slice of birthday cake and decided to stay for lunch. I had their quiche and fresh fruit. Both were wonderful. Seriously the fruit cup was the best I've ever had or seen. I took my slice of cake to go and it was great too. Moist, creamy and too much to eat in one sitting. It was great the next day too. The last time I went in July for my actual birthday and it was just an ok experience. I had the chicken salad sandwich and fruit cup. The chicken salad does remind me of an old fashioned recipe that is very blended not chunky but not pureed either. It was a little over salted but otherwise basic, I thought. The fruit was fresh but not nearly as nice as the previous experience. I took a slice of seasonal strawberry cake to go and it was a little disappointing. Dry and meh flavor and texture. I really enjoyed the sliced strawberries between the layers and wishing there was more of that. I also got a slice of birthday cake for another day and that frosting was not fresh. Very crumbly instead of creamy like my previous experience. The customer service has been top notch except the last visit it took quite a bit before anyone acknowledged or seated me. They didn't seem shorthanded and it was busy but I've been in when it was busier. Maybe I caught them on a bad day. Hopefully my next visit is more like my...

I am shocked, embarrassed, and incredibly saddened. My wife and I have been coming here for cake for years and today we decided to stop in for a quick breakfast before going to the dog park. We were seated and everything started fine but after we ordered our meals which were 2 breakfast platters, one having fruit, the food took about 30 minutes to finally get to us with no acknowledgement of the time by our server. When I finally got up and asked, I was told it would be a couple minutes longer. We finally got our food and it was generally just cold, the toast was unable to melt any butter and the eggs were very cold. When another server came by we asked and were told that they had issues in the kitchen with power and that they were having to move appliances around to try and cook. No mention of that had been made before hand. They did give us new toast. When we were done we received our bill and had found that the order of a platter with fruit had been made a side of fruit being $2 more. So we had been charged extra. So after fixing that and finally leaving we found out that another table had been given a discount for their wait but none was offered to us, likely due to the fact that I pointed out that if we had been communicated with while the issue was happening, we would have been happy to be patient.

The part that makes me most sad is that we love their desserts. We have spent years bringing people who are from out of the area there to enjoy the best cake in town and this experience has left us embarrassed that someone we would refer here would experience this as well. We are sad to lose their cakes in our life but we...